After my shower I dried off with one of the largest towels. Another perk of going first. I wiped the steam from the mirror and stared into the center anticipating another vision to appear. I laughed to myself when nothing happened and got dressed.
As I got closer to the door, I heard Zed talking. I leaned my ear against the door to hear more clearly. “Do you think she could be enchanted?” he asked Taylor.
“I don’t know. It’s possible I guess…if the enchanted really exist,” Taylor replied nonchalantly.
I was confused. Taylor had demanded that Zed never lie to him again last night, yet he just lied to Zed. Taylor didn’t trust those closest to him. I prayed that list didn’t include me. He must know that I would never do anything to betray his trust. I loved him with my entire being. I would have showed him that last night had we not been interrupted. Before their conversation could continue any further and to prevent Taylor from having to be less than honest with Zed, I yanked the door open with as little stealth as possible.
Zed brought back coffee, muffins and bagels. I took sips of my coffee in between passes of the brush through my hair. With my nerves on high alert I didn’t feel like eating. Both Zed and Taylor devoured the muffins and bagels. They had no choice but to feed their high metabolisms. Instantly my thoughts turned to Dr. Hendrick. I hoped he had made strides in his research.
Though I partially agreed with Sherry that perhaps Taylor belonged in his rightful place in time, I was selfish and couldn’t bear to part with him. Perhaps Dr. Hendrick knew a way to send my essence to the future. After all, my pre Taylor life had me locked away in a mental facility. And if Taylor’s theory about destiny somehow getting back on track had any validity, I could still end up in that mental facility even though we had already changed the past.
I packed up our stuff while Taylor had his shower. Zed sat in the chair eyeing me up and down. I pretended not to notice and hoped he wouldn’t try to pry information out of me. I wasn’t sure how much Taylor had told him. The only thing I did know was that he didn’t tell Zed about me being enchanted.
“So, you’re going to meet Dr. Hendrick eh?” he prodded. At least Taylor told him about the scientist.
“That seems to be the plan. Do you know him?” I asked casually. I hoped this wouldn’t be a game of twenty questions.
“No, I haven’t had the pleasure.” He smiled but it looked forced. I had a peculiar feeling he was burying his thoughts deep in his mind just in case I tried to look around in there.
“Are you coming with us?” I smiled back trying to be polite. The truth was that I didn’t want him to come. There was something off about Zed’s presence here. I hated to think that as Zed had helped us out a lot with the first mission. But now we had so many unanswered questions like; who was the woman that gave him the newspaper?
“No, I have some other matters to attend.” He was no longer smiling.
“Oh.” Was all I could say.
Zed was never forth coming about what he did in between missions. In order for him not to ask me any questions, I stopped asking him questions. Instead we made small talk as we waited for Taylor to finish up. It wasn’t long until he came out looking clean and tasty. I chuckled to myself thinking back to the name I gave him at Clear Waters using word association. Tasty Taylor. We left Zed in the motel room to shower and told him to leave the key in the room on his way out.
I admired Zed’s new motorcycle parked in the stall beside the truck. He certainly was the master of acquisition. I hopped in the passenger side of the truck and threw my bag in the back seat. I waited to speak until we were on the road.
“Zed told me he hasn’t met Dr. Hendrick,” I said. It was more of a question than a statement.
“That’s true. Zed has his contacts and I have mine.” He kept his eyes on the road and checked his mirrors.
“Hmmm. Why didn’t you tell him I was enchanted? Don’t you trust him?” I stared at him to read his reaction but he didn’t even bat an eye.
“I trust him with my life. But we need to be more careful with the information we share. Look at what happened with my father.”
Kind hearted Taylor never imagined his own father was the one running interference during our last mission. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I smiled to myself. Taylor used the word “we” instead of “I.” That meant he trusted me entirely.
“It’s safer this way. What if Zed gets captured and tortured?” added Taylor. As tough as Zed looked, he would surely cave under pressure.
I thought back to Sable and the rescue I had plotted behind Taylor’s back. My heart ached when I remembered how furious he was with me after he rescued us. He even threatened to abandon the mission if I ever pulled a stunt like that again. But something in me couldn’t leave Sable alone to fend for himself against the wolves. Luckily it all worked out.
In no time we arrived at an industrialized section of the city. It reminded me of the abandoned warehouse Marcus forced me to drive to in order to finish me off. I wasn’t prepared to die that day and proved it when the most primal instinct for survival kicked in and I stabbed Marcus instead. I shuttered at the memory. I didn’t want to be a killer.
After parking next to the building, I followed Taylor to a side entrance. We walked across an opened area to another door, down a narrow hallway to yet another door. I watched Taylor punch in a numerical code and the door opened.
Inside the room was dim. There were numerous stainless steel fridges, a large aquarium with different types of plants and a large array of beakers and cylinders scattered across a stainless steel counter that had two sinks in the middle.
A short man with thick glasses sporting a white lab coat walked out of a large steel door in the far corner. When he spotted us he nearly dropped the tray of beakers he was carrying. He quickly placed the tray on the counter, adjusted his glasses and smiled when he realized it was Taylor.
“Taylor Dalton! How are you my time travelling friend?” His smile faded when he looked at me unsure how Taylor would react to him blurting out his secret.
“I’m fine Dr. Hendrick. I have someone I would like you to meet.” Taylor grabbed my arm. “This is Lacey Bennett.”
Dr. Hendrick let out a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure what I expected his reaction to be or how much he knew about our missions or if he even knew who I was. “You’re still alive Taylor; that’s a good thing.”
I had put out my hand to shake his but he walked over to his aquarium and gently touched his plants as if they were his pets. Obviously he didn’t socialize much. His people skills were off as much as Evan’s from Clear Waters were. But Taylor had insisted this man was a genius and so who was I to judge the only person who could possibly help us, even if he was very strange.
“We’re also here to see if you made any progress with stabilizing the enzymes,” said Taylor.
The doctor continued to drop some plant food from a small plastic container. “I’m so close Taylor. I can feel it.”
My mood instantly lightened. He was close to finding a solution to our problem. Now we just had to prevent two more disasters from happening. Okay, maybe it was more difficult than that but I was determined to do whatever it took to save the future. Then Taylor could stay here with me and we could go off the grid and live our lives together far from society knowing that my family and his family would both be safe and have a good life. I wasn’t asking for too much.
After Dr. Hendrick finished feeding his plants, he walked over to the counter and opened a drawer. He pulled out the longest syringe I had ever seen. I hoped he wasn’t planning on using that thing on me. I never was a fan of needles.
“Since you’re here Taylor, I need another sample for my tests,” he said staring at the end of the needle.
Taylor rolled up his t-shirt so the doctor could take a sample of blood. Afterwards, Dr. Hendrick placed the syringe in one of his small fridges while Taylor held pressure over the pin hole to stop the bleeding.
“Dr. Hendrick
, if Taylor’s enzymes can’t be stabilized, is it possible to send me to the future?” I asked. There was nothing like spewing random questions to a weird scientist I had just met.
Taylor looked shocked. I hadn’t discussed this possibility with him.
“That’s not the field I specialize in. I’m going to a convention next week. I will talk with the colleagues I trust.” There was no emotion in his answer. He was like a robot.
Dr. Hendrick kept looking at his watch as if he had somewhere to be. Taylor and I felt like we were keeping him from something so we said our goodbyes and left. Once we got back into the truck Taylor grabbed my hand.
“After everything we’ve been through, you would actually travel to the future to be with me?” he asked.
“Of course. I love you Taylor.” The words slipped out so easily.
“I love you too,” he paused. “But what if things don’t turn out like we hope and my future turns out to be harsher than it already is? Or worse yet, what if you don’t survive the process?” I never thought about that possibility.
“I’m willing to take that chance to be with you.” After all, my life was with him either in this time or his time. Of this I was certain.
We drove away and found another motel to stay at. After settling in for the night, Taylor was somewhat distant from me and I didn’t know why. Maybe I was moving too fast for him. In a way I was. Travelling through time to be with someone was a bigger commitment than marriage. My mind raced with random thoughts until I finally let sleep win.
I woke up to Taylor shaking my arm. “Let’s go. Zed’s in trouble.”
BOOK TITLE
9.
COINCIDENCE
We arrived at eight thirty at the Megaplex across from the track just in case the meeting was some sort of trap. We hopped out of the truck and I surveyed the area for Zed along with anyone who looked suspicious. I had prayed Taylor was over reacting and even though Zed got on my nerves most of the time, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. It was a nice day outside. Handfuls of people were about enjoying themselves. Some sat on park benches chatting while others sat on the grass reading or eating.
Taylor and I walked over to a food vendor to buy a snack. I opted for a juice. As I removed the cap and took a gulp, I could feel somebody watching us. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I nonchalantly turned around and placed the cap back on. To my left I spotted someone in a long sleeved black shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses standing by a large tree checking us out.
“Do you see him over there by the tree?” I asked Taylor via ESP. Taylor was busy shoving a donut in his mouth.
“Yep. It’s definitely not my usual contact Blake,” he replied in his mind. He wiped the powdery substance from his face with a napkin.
We must have spooked the spy since he quickly turned around and walked away from us. Taylor threw down what was left of his food and chased the guy. By the time I caught up to them, Taylor had the scout face down on the ground holding him there with one knee.
“Who are you?” demanded Taylor. He pushed forcefully on the suspect.
“Relax. I’m on your side,” replied a female voice. He was a she!
Bystanders pointed at us and talked amongst themselves. A few people were on their cell phones. We had to get out of here before they called the police or snapped pictures of us.
Taylor got off the girl and helped her up, knocking the baseball cap to the ground in the process close to where her sunglasses were. Her strawberry blond hair fell loosely to her shoulders. She was quite pretty. I wondered how she was involved in all of this.
“My name is Heather. I work for Mr. M,” she began. “I mean, I did work for him. Your friend Zed has been arrested for his murder!” She was outraged.
I gasped. Zed’s in jail? For murder? Again, Taylor’s intuition was spot on. Obviously there had been a mistake. For one, Zed would never kill anyone except maybe in self defense. Two, it would go against Taylor’s theory about the evolved being able to alter the present in such an extreme way. If Mr. M was murdered, somebody from the present time did it which only meant the dark spirits were desperate.
“When did this happen? Zed was with us just the other day,” asked Taylor. I stood there tapping my foot and keeping an eye on the spectators that had multiplied. We really did need to leave.
“Come with me and I’ll explain everything,” she ordered. She too surveyed the onlookers. “I’ll take you to a meeting place where we can talk in private.”
As we got into the truck Taylor let me know telepathically that Mr. M’s company didn’t know anything about the time travellers. He was a contact that Taylor used to get information and certain items he required at times. I let him know that I understood.
Taylor followed Heather’s directions to an apartment building a couple of blocks away. We walked up the cement stairs to a large door. Heather fumbled for a key to unlock it from a large array of keys on a metal ring. I briefly flashed back to the worker at Clear Water’s who had a similar set of keys. He had let me into a nice room as I waited to say goodbye to my father. Then after my dad left, the employee showed me to my real room – my stinky cell. Yes, the old bait and switch. I remembered it well. As we walked through the doorway, I thought maybe Zed was some sort of bait.
The building’s elevator was out of order so we continued up four more flights of stairs until Heather stopped at one of the doors. Again, she pulled out her collection of keys and fiddled with them until she found the one she was looking for.
“This is one of the apartments we used for meetings,” she said pushing the door open. “The elevator has been down for a while so we couldn’t use it with Mr. M’s condition. The house cleaner still comes regularly and stocks up the fridge with drinks.”
The apartment was clean and bright. Taylor and I sat down at the small kitchen table that housed a laptop. Heather grabbed each of us a bottle of water from the fridge while she grabbed a beer and downed it quickly.
“It helps with the nerves,” she said wiping her mouth with her sleeve. “You want one?”
“No thanks,” Taylor and I replied at the same time.
“What did you mean about Mr. M’s condition?” I asked curiously.
Heather looked at Taylor then back to me. “Well, I guess Taylor hasn’t told you much about us.”
Taylor was about to speak but Heather explained, “I am,” she paused. “I was Mr. M’s assistant. He was in a wheel chair and his eye sight was deteriorating. One of my talents is reading body language.”
She placed her beer on the table and opened her laptop. While she waited for it to start up, Heather explained that all of Mr. M’s meetings were secretly video taped. Mr. M thought it was best to have a large male assistant in public, which was Blake. Heather would review the tapes and give Mr. M her perspective about potential clients. She was quite proud of her ability to peg undercover police officers and any competition who tried to infiltrate Mr. M’s group. It made me think that they must have been a very powerful organization to have the cops on their backs.
“From watching your videos, I’ve always liked you Taylor. You are genuine. That’s why I don’t think you had anything to do with this.” She stared into his eyes as she said this. She wanted to read his reaction.
I knew what Taylor was thinking while he tapped his fingers on the table. Heather really didn’t think Taylor was involved but she did think Zed was guilty.
Heather inserted a memory card into the computer. After clicking a few files, she pulled up a grainy video of Zed standing in front of a man in a wheel chair. Zed was waving his hands around as if he was arguing with Mr. M. There was no audio so we couldn’t hear what he was saying. We could only see the back of Zed’s head so reading his lips was out of the question. The video turned to static then came back to show Mr. M’s head cocked to the left and not moving. Zed grabbed him by the shoulders and touched the back
of his motionless head.
Suddenly he put both hands in the air then dropped down on one knee, then the other, and laid face down on the ground. Within seconds, uniformed police officers were inside the frame and Zed was handcuffed. Then the video just cut out to black.
“There’s no way Zed did this. I just don’t believe it. This whole thing smells like a set up,” exclaimed Taylor waving his hands around.
“Of course Zed isn’t involved. The video was manipulated to make it look like he did it. It turned to static at the exact moment Mr. M was shot. It’s obvious he was just as surprised by what had happened. He was checking to see what was wrong with Mr. M,” I added. That was the only logical answer.
“Or he was checking to make sure he did the job right,” thought Heather.
Ignoring Heather’s thoughts of Zed’s guilt, Taylor asked, “Where did you get this video anyway?”
“The memory card was in my mailbox. That’s not unusual in our line of business,” replied Heather. Her cheeks reddened like she was fighting back her thoughts, conflicted about telling us something more.
“You’re keeping something from us,” I blurted. It didn’t really matter if she didn’t say it out loud. Taylor and I would invade her thoughts. She had no choice but to think about what she was holding back.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe Zed was set up. But he wasn’t even supposed to be there yesterday. I was prepping for today at one of our other apartments. Blake called me this morning to tell me Mr. M was fatally shot.”
There was more that she wasn’t telling us. Taylor and I stared her down. She looked away from us as if that could keep her safe. “This might sound crazy,” she added, “but these last few days, something was off with Blake. Almost like…..”
“Like someone else was controlling him?” Taylor asked.
“Yeah, kinda like that,” she said. “Exactly like that,” she thought to herself.
It was obvious to us that Blake was under the influence of a controller. He was most likely the trigger man. He could have easily shot Mr. M and then erased the surveillance video leaving just a small fraction to incriminate Zed. But why? How would Zed’s arrest deter us from our mission?
Broken - Afflictions of the Evolved (The Evolved Trilogy) Page 7